Surviving Russian pilot claims he was not in Turkish airspace

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that a Su-24 warplane crashed in Syria.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hit back at Russian Federation, accusing it of using its fight against Islamic State in Syria as a pretext to target opposition groups in a bid to strengthen Syrian president Bashar Assad.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian missile cruiser Moskva had moved closer to shore to protect the Russian aircraft flying missions near Syria’s border with Turkey with its long-range Fort air defence system.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Turkey had a right to defend its airspace and charged that Russian air activity near the Turkey-Syria border has contributed to the crisis.

In the recordings, a voice is heard saying in saying broken English: “This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard”. Turkish military claimed that the pilots of the Russian jet ignored 10 warnings in five minutes before its fighters shot down the plane. The pilot said he is extremely familiar with the area he flies and would have known if he had crossed into Turkish airspace.

“Turkey has never favored tensions and crisis, it has and will always favor peace and dialogue”, said Erdogan.

President Vladimir Putin reacted furiously to what he described as a “stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists”, and insisted the plane had posed no threat.

One of them was killed by gunfire as he parachuted from the burning plane. Moscow says he was then rescued by Russian and Syrian Special Forces. Though urging “calm and de-escalation” of the situation, Jens Stoltenberg said, “As we have repeatedly made clear, we stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, Turkey”.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that the downing was a “planned provocation” and warned that “terrorists” have used Turkish territory to prepare attacks in other countries.

One of the Russian pilots was killed by militants in Syria after ejecting from the plane, while his crewmate was rescued by Syrian army commandos.

“The problem is not the tragedy we witnessed yesterday”, the TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

He said that his country was dealing with Turkey as a neighbour and a friendly state.